Tag: wwe

I hope he ends up like Jay-Z

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

For reasons nobody will ever know: Sean-Puff-Diddy-I-Really-Killed-Tupac-and-Biggie changes his name for the 57th time, anointing himself as “Love,” or “Brother Love”

Anyone’s guess is as good as any; but ultimately, I don’t think it’s any stretch to assume that when the day is over, it’s just Diddy’s way of trying to get attention, as if he felt like the news of the world has lulled too long without any news of himself in it, so he does something stupid like changing his name so that people get to talking about him again.  Ironically, I’m writing about it, among countless others, so it’s not entirely a bad tactic, except that the general consensus of scuttlebutt is either along the lines of criticism, or if anything at all, why??

Regardless, to me, this wouldn’t have been even a drip in the bucket if not for the fact that he’s given himself the name of Brother Love on top of just ‘Love.’  Because to wrestling-loving nerds like myself, there’s only one person in the world synonymous with the name Brother Love – the red-faced, white suit wearing, original manager of the Undertaker, Brother Love, portrayed by Bruce Pritchard.

I think it’s a safe bet to assume that Diddy didn’t bother to check for any overlap, or any conflicts of similarity, because he’s an insufferable attention whore that doesn’t really think before he acts, but I’m agitated that he took the namesake of an iconic personality, whether or not he knew of his existence or not.  I mean sure, professional wrestling is pretty silly, but it’s also not an invisible niche industry, and Pritchard himself works for the largest, publicly traded wrestling company on the planet, so it’s not like he’s one of the no-name scrubs in the world using the moniker of Brother Love.

Continue reading “I hope he ends up like Jay-Z” →

Cloud9 is going to find out the hard way

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Oh, how little they realize the danger they’re in: Cloud9 secures $25M in Series A financing from various notable entities, including the WWE

In other words, the world of eSports has let the wolf known as World Wrestling Entertainment into the chicken coop.  AKA Triple H, the de facto ultimate usurper and infiltrator has found his way into the burgeoning and profitable world of eSports.

And now that his foot is in the door, it’s only a matter of time before Triple H ultimately takes over every single C9 professional team, and then it’s only a matter of another time until Triple H, and just Triple H is the champion of League of Legends, Overwatch, Counterstrike and Smash Bros.

Granted, eSports will have been systematically ruined and destroyed, but hey, it would at least be a North American champion in some of these games, for once in the history of competitive gaming.

Continue reading “Cloud9 is going to find out the hard way” →

Life is boring lately

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but as it pertains to my want to write every now and then, it sure doesn’t help when there’s nothing to really talk about outside of sports.  Like really, I comb through news sites, and I try to watch a little bit of news here and there, but on a regular basis, it’s the same old shit that’s being driven further into the ground every single time it comes up, so there’s really nothing particularly interesting to me that gives me any inspiration to really write.

On the local level, the AJC further reinforces the notion that they’re a clown outlet, since the front page of the site has basically turned into the SEC football daily, providing links and news for not just Georgia, but just about every single SEC school’s football programs.  Granted, I guess it sure beats the alternative to the daily shootings, robberies and killings in Southwest Atlanta, but surely, surely, there has to be stuff worth reporting on aside from college football.

National and global news are more of the same crap involving sexual harassment dogpiling, talk of building a wall, and the perpetually constantly rising tensions between the United States and other countries.

Same shit, different day.

It’s no wonder why I always fall back onto sports and wrestling to talk about, because there’s not much else worth writing about that doesn’t just trigger, bother, infuriate or simply annoy.

Continue reading “Life is boring lately” →

In memoriam of the greatest: Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’ve written a lot of eulogy-like posts about wrestling personalities who have left us, but this one in particular really hurts.  I don’t think I’ve pulled any punches about those whom I’ve admit to not being the biggest fans of, like when Roddy Piper passed, or Dusty Rhodes or even Chyna, but I’ve always had things to say about all of them.  That being said, when I say that this one really hurts, it’s because it is amongst the saddest of wrestling deaths in that not only the fans, but the industry as a whole has lost a genuine trailblazer and a man who whether they realized it or not, laid down the groundwork for generations of wrestling personas to this very day.

When I first got into wrestling back in like 1988, I was privy to have started watching in a time when Prime Time Wrestling on the USA Network was one of the flagship programs for the then WWF.  I can remember some of the matches I saw back then, like Ultimate Warrior vs. Haku, Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana, and Shawn Michaels vs. the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.  This was during a time when WWF programming was typically several squash matches featuring stars versus definition jobbers, with a few of the aforementioned matches sprinkled in towards the end of each hour.

However, one of the other things viewers saw back then that stuck with me, was the studio segments featuring none other than Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon.  They would take care of the business aspect of television, such as promoting pay-per-view shows, live events (always at the Capitol Center), as well as doing typical wrestling commentary.  What I always remembered about those segments was that for a while, in front of Heenan’s spot at the desk, he had a “Ravishing” Rick Rude action figure standing over a fallen Ultimate Warrior action figure.  Little did I realize it was at that very time, Rude was feuding with Warrior over the Intercontinental championship, and basically Warrior was systematically going through the “Heenan Family” stable of wrestlers to get back to a point where he could and would eventually challenge and re-gain the belt.  But being a kid, I was just enamored by seeing action figures I wish I had very badly, on television in plain sight.

Continue reading “In memoriam of the greatest: Bobby “The Brain” Heenan” →

I’m already sold on Bianca Belair

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

So I’m watching The Mae Young Classic on the WWE Network for $9.95 a month, and it’s pretty much everything I figured it would be; pretty obviously scripted, easily predictable in who’s going to win what matches, and although I haven’t caught up to the very most recent episode, it’s a pretty forgone conclusion to whom will probably be in the final four, as well as who’s probably going to win the whole shebang outright.

And although she was someone who lost in the second round of the tournament, I have to say that the biggest takeaway for me so far, has been Bianca Belair.  Watching the first round matches, it was painfully evident the people that were there for fodder, but it was also as apparent to quickly identify the women that actually had some talent.  Belair caught my immediately, mostly because she didn’t just have a six-pack, but more like a Pepsi Cube of chiseled abdominal muscles; whether she could wrestle or not was irrelevant, this girl was a physical specimen.

I’m far removed from wrestling fandom to know who a lot of these women are, and I can’t be one of the cool hip smarks who know what their names in a previous federation or country were, but I was pretty immediately impressed by Bianca Belair in her opening round victory, because sure she was a little green in wrestling talent, but the athleticism was off the chart, and she had a very natural ring presence when it came to acting to her persona.

Continue reading “I’m already sold on Bianca Belair” →

Thoughts on a weekend of wrestling

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Yeah pretty much I spent the entire weekend on my ass watching television.  Not only did I watch all of The Defenders with great relish, I also enjoyed the fact that it was a weekend featuring both NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III as well as the 30th anniversary of SummerSlam, with a brief interruption by Game of Thrones.  Since I don’t really get the chance to watch WWE television since I no longer have cable, I have kind of fallen out current storylines for the most part, but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be able to enjoy either show.

To cut to the chase, it should be of no surprise that I would say that Takeover was easily the superior show, since there’s very little denying that they’re a vastly superior wrestling product versus the overboard storytelling on the main roster.  The subtle invasion of the next wave of Ring of Honor expats blew away the smark-hip Brooklyn crowd which is always a hot market for live shows, and it sets up NXT for a few months of above-average talent to mix things up with.

As a whole, I would say SummerSlam was pretty mediocre for what the WWE constantly bills as their #2 major show of the year.  It’s also way too god damn long, since it started at 7 p.m. EST and went all the way to 11; adding in the hour I paused to watch Game of Thrones, I actually had to stop prior to the main event and pick it up later, because I didn’t want to be up until like 1-2 a.m. watching wrestling on a night where I’d have to go to work the following morning.

But in typical WWE fashion, they have potentially good matches like The New Day vs. the Usos on the undercard, and have garbage like Big Show vs. Big Cass with Enzo Amore in a suspended cage in more premiere spots on the card.  Matches like AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens with the completely ‘roided up and humorously over-sweaty Shane McMahon as referee were reliably good, and I was moderately pleased by the main event despite my skepticism of any match featuring more than two singles competitors.

Continue reading “Thoughts on a weekend of wrestling” →

NXT’s current best talent

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Ever since I’ve started watching NXT with some regularity, I feel like I jumped aboard during a pretty stale period.  Guys like Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe have all left at pretty much the same time, and in their place has been a main-event pool of guys that I’m not remotely interested in, such as Bobby Roode, Roderick Strong and Hideo Itami; aside from Roode’s arrogance, there’s literally no intrigue, personality or narrative that anybody brings to the table, creating stories that are hard to get vested in.

As much as I disliked the name “#DIY,” the talent of Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa shined through, but now they’ve been broken up and taken off television for the time being, and taking their place in the tag team division are a bunch of mammoth hosses like the Authors of Pain and Heavy Machinery, who will undoubtedly have a stinker of a program when they inevitably collide for the belts.

But if there’s been one thing worth tuning into recently, it’s NXT’s women’s champion, Asuka.  Week in and week out, she’s the brightest star in all of NXT, and it’s going to be a dark time for the brand’s women’s division once she gets the demotion to the main roster.  She’s undefeated, and WWE’s even gone as far as to declare that she’s surpassed Bill Goldberg’s old WCW record of 163 wins before first defeat, and given NXT’s women’s talent pool it doesn’t seem likely that it’s going to end that soon, especially with her most recent victory over Nikki Cross in a Last Woman Standing match.

Continue reading “NXT’s current best talent” →